The first-grade hallway inside Morse Elementary School was filled with the sights and scents of the season Tuesday morning.

The unmistakable aromas of turkey, mashed potatoes, yams and empanadas occupied the space. In the hall and inside each classroom, family sat next to their students to celebrate Thanksgiving with food and crafts, from coloring hand-traced turkeys to building turkeys out of Oreos and candy corn.

“We want to have a family environment,” said Morse first grade teacher Cheryl Haines, who cooked a full Thanksgiving meal for her students.

Around the Poughkeepsie City School District, many classes have been preparing students to celebrate Thanksgiving Thursday by holding gatherings of their own. Several were held Tuesday, like the first-grade parties at Morse, and involved parents and family joining in on the fun. Others, such as a Friendsgiving in Jennifer Langdon’s Krieger Elementary third-grade class and a party in Poughkeepsie Middle School’s life skills class, were held previously.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity for our families and teachers and school community to work together to provide an enriching experience for all our students,” Morse Principal Samantha Mitchell said. “Our students have worked really hard and our teachers have worked really hard to share a wonderful experience for Thanksgiving.”

At the Early Learning Center, Denise McMahon’s kindergarten class paraded through the hallways and in and out of classes Tuesday afternoon proclaiming “Happy Thanksgiving!” while holding balloons made to look like floats of such things as a dinosaur, a robot, a unicorn, a gingerbread man and others. It’s an annual event McMahon calls “Balloons Over Broadway.”

“The students discussed how they watch the parade on TV,” Principal Nadine Elting-Dargan said. “This is a chance to be in it.”

For the party at Poughkeepsie Middle School, students feasted on turkey, green beans, corn, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, rolls, cheese and a cucumber and tomato salad. And, life skills teacher Christina Gurnee said, her students prepared it all, with the assistance of staff.

“We had gone to ShopRite last Thursday,” she said. After they made their own shopping list, they were separated into groups and given a list of ingredients to pick up. “Monday, the kids came in excited and could not wait to get started. While preparing the meal, they had to read recipes, read and use measuring cups, work cooperatively together, ask for help when needed and make decisions on the decorating.

“So, although this was a fun activity,” Gurnee said, “it was very beneficial and curriculum-driven.”

Langdon’s class enjoyed their Friendsgiving Friday while wearing festive glasses decorated with turkey, foods and leaves. It was her second time holding the event. She said last year she was approached by a local business owner who said several businesses would be interested in donating a Thanksgiving meal to a family in need. However, "it was impossible for me to pick just one family,” she said.

“I proposed that if each volunteer involved wanted to contribute their item to a class event, not only would we be making a lasting memory together, we’d be touching so many other lives," she said. "The same group approached me this year asking if I’d like to do it again and the answer was a huge yes!”

At Morse, the day began in the cafeteria, where the classes combined to perform three thankful-themed songs for parents, other family and even some local leaders, including Mayor Yvonne Flowers and state Sen. Rob Rolison.

They then broke up into individual celebrations. While some teachers and staff prepared a slew of traditional Thanksgiving foods for their students, others feasted on snacks like donuts, fresh fruits, chips, cookies and juice.

Several community members also volunteered to help serve the food, as has long been a tradition at Morse.

In Haines’ class, the students themselves made the dessert – apple hand pies – on Monday.

“We used a cup and our hands,” student Ashley Carolina Zamora Rodriguez said. “We made it as big as our hands, then we put apple on top, and we let it cook.”

Sa’ny Terry said she had never made her own dessert before, but she had fun. “I liked the part where it was squishy,” she said.

For the students whose parents could not attend, Haines said the teachers look into what family could come and keep the students company. Many older siblings and cousins around the building were invited to take part in the fun. “It makes it work,” Haines said. “Everybody should have somebody.”

Lyan Aziz came from her fourth-grade class to sit next to her younger sister, Jwan.

“I love my sister. She’s my best friend,” Lyan said of why she wanted to come.

Haines said the Morse first grade teachers aim to form a bond between the families and the school in the opening months of each school year, holding a family event each month through December.

“This is continuing that momentum,” Haines said.